Publication

This paper reports on the progress made in Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform and specifically the CAP ‘Health Check’, agreed on in November 2008. The 2003 reform, which decoupled farm payments from production, created a new Rural Development Fund and introduced budgetary disciplines and a new financial mechanism, set the parameters for subsequent reforms. The CAP ‘Health Check’ continues this reform process but does not alter the EU’s trade policy regime for agricultural products.